Spotify Running wants to rewire your workout

Spotify is looking to become a runner’s best friend with its new tempo matching playlist feature.

Spotify is changing the way it serves up music to listeners. The team behind the hugely popular music streaming app announced a bunch of new features at a press event in New York yesterday, with things like video clips, situationally-aware playlists and even a new service which matches music to your tempo while you’re running added to its roster.

The company’s Chief Product Officer, Gustav Söderström, confirmed the addition of a new Now start page which would aim to provide listeners with the right music at the right time of day.

Whether you need a pick-me-up in the morning or something a little more chilled out at night, to help you relax, the new feature will strive to provide what you like at the appropriate time of day, with the help of smart music-matching software.

As expected, Spotify will also begin showing video clips from content providers like the BBC, Adult Swim, ESPN, TED and Vice, to add a touch of the visual to the previously aural-only experience, Snapchat-style.

On a more interesting note, Söderström also announced Spotify Running, which will allow the Spotify app to access your mobile device’s sensors to gauge your pace, before serving up the perfect music to match your stride.

The addition of a fitness element to Spotify is likely to come as bad news to other brands trying to carve a slice of the fitness app market share, as the company comes packing a huge back-catalogue of music and a well-established listener base which includes over 10 million premium customers.

Both Nike and RunKeeper have signed on to partner Spotify in its new endeavour, however, sparing them from the added competition.

To add fuel to the fire, it was also announced that Spotify would be partnering with musicians to commission exclusive music for the running feature. Tiësto made a fleeting appearance at the event as one such partner and more will likely be confirmed in the coming weeks as the service gets up and running.

New content won’t be limited to the running feature though. Spotify will add custom radio shows and other content too, including Dance Move of the Day, which will come courtesy of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls brand.

Spotify Running and the other newly announce features began rolling out to iOS users across the UK, Germany, Sweden and the US yesterday. Android users should get some of the new features imminently but there’s currently no firm date on when the running feature will fetch-up on Google’s platform, though we’d expect it to be fairly soon.